One thing that these files particularly reflect is the active interest of the people in political affairs, both local and national. A sense of citizenship harking back to the spirit of '76 and the principles of the founders of the government seems to have permeated the rank and file as it does not today. Another conspicuous quality that throws light on the temper and status of the time, was the truculent animosity between those who differed in political opinions. Fierceness, contempt and personal abuse, out of all keeping with the provocation, and served up according to the talents of the belligerent, are a common exhibit in the weekly columns. The straightforward, simple honesty and common sense attributed to the pioneers must be taken with a grain of allowance, especially in matters political. From the glimpses we get, log-rolling and demagogy were quite as pronounced, in proportion to the forces at work, as at the present day, and the successful politician was he who could truckle to the prejudices of the people. The local contests over such questions as slavery in the territory and the division of the territroy, were rife with bitterness and acrimony; the "people" and the "aristocrats," as they came to be classewd, were arrayed against each other, with little regard to justice, one toward the other, and bellicose humanity was continually in evidence. In short, the vices of popular government, as we have them today, are not an aftergrowth engrafted upon the patriotic purity of earlier times, but had their birth along with popular government.